Chincoteague Pony in Habitat, Chincoteague NWR
Here’s another photograph from my Chincoteague trip a couple of weeks ago. This will probably be my last blog post on the trip, because I’m hoping to get out and shoot around Virginia in the next couple of days.
My absolute favorite subjects to photograph at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge are the wild ponies. Ever since I first read Marguerite Henry’s classic novel Misty of Chincoteague as a little girl, I had always wanted to travel to Chincoteague to see the wild ponies, and now I still get excited everytime I see one. On my recent trip to Chincoteague, two wild ponies, a mare and another smaller pony, possibly her foal from this past spring, spent all day Saturday grazing along the beach drive. While I’ve had close encounters with the wild ponies at Assateague National Seashore, on the Maryland side of Assateague Island, I had previously only seen the ponies on the Virginia side of the island from a distance. So you can just imagine how thrilled I was to find these two in such close proximity.
Since the ponies were so close, I tried to get some unique of shots of them, different from the shots I already had. Whenever possible, I like using wide angle lenses up close while shooting wildlife, as they give a different perspective and allow you to include the environment in the shot. Since these ponies allowed a very close approach, I took a variety of shots of them with my 17-40mm zoom lens.
This shot illustrates the advantages of using a wide angle lens when photographing wildlife. In this photo, the viewer gets a very clear picture of the habitat these ponies live in. By including the environment in your photos, the resulting images tell more about the subject and this can make your images more saleable.
Techs: Canon 1D Mark II N, Canon 17-40mm f/4L IS USM, handheld. To order this print, purchase stock rights, or view other photos I have for sale, please visit my website at www.karipost.com.
In: Recent and Random Photos, Tips and Techniques
on January 8, 2009 at 11:31 am
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that picture is so cute could u show me more pictures